Michigan

Still no verdict in EMU murder trial

Attorneys and families of the victim and the suspect in the Eastern Michigan University murder trial were called back into the courtroom this morning, nearly two days into jury deliberations, then were dismissed without any word about the progress of the case.

The case was heard last week by Chief Washtenaw Circuit Judge Archie Brown, but in Judge Donald Shelton's courtroom. Shelton has been hearing a trial in his own courtroom this week, but the courtroom was cleared and Shelton's name was removed from the bench in preparation for Brown and the jury's return for some kind of action at about 10:40 a.m.

But after everyone returned, Shelton's clerk announced that Brown would not return and no statement would be made. Defense attorney Alvin Keel looked shocked at the clerk's announcement, but said the attorneys had been warned not to talk to the media.

Defendant Orange Taylor III, charged with killing Laura Dickinson in her dormitory room last December, was not brought into the courtroom for the announcement.

A person with Taylor's family broke into tears in the hallway.

The jury got the case at 3:49 p.m. Friday and deliberated for little less than two hours before breaking for the weekend. The 10 women and two men deliberated for eight hours Monday, working through lunch, and resumed at 9:10 a.m. today.

Taylor is charged with open murder, which includes premeditated murder and felony murder, or a murder that occurs during the commission of another felony. He faces life in prison with no parole if convicted of either of those first-degree charges. Also included in the open murder charge are second-degree murder and manslaughter. He is also charged with home invasion, assault with intent to commit sexual penetration and larceny in a building.

He was seen in videotapes during the trial going into the stairwell that led directly to Laura Dickinson's door, a few hours after she returned from a Christmas party. When he left, the videotape showed him carrying a white bag.

Forensic scientists testified last week that they found Taylor's semen on Dickinson's inner thigh, and unusual fibers consistent with Taylor's sweatshirt on her body, pillow and shirt.

Medical examiner Bader Cassin ruled her death a homicide in part, he said, because he could find no cause of death but asphyxia, and in part because she was found on the floor next to her bed, her head a the foot of the bed, nude from the waist down, her legs spread, her tampon flung across the room, and her keys missing. Her door had been locked from the outside.